Evaluating the effects of four-day school weeks on child and family health, well-being, and socioeconomic factors

项目摘要 学校是促进儿童健康、学习和福祉的重要场所。然而，前所未有的下降 在州教育资金迫使许多美国学区考虑削减成本的措施，以减轻 预算压力。采用一周四天制作为一种潜在的节约成本战略， 在过去的二十年里，美国的这一数字增加了630%，尽管缺乏关于这一战略如何实现的数据。 影响儿童和家庭的健康和福祉。每周少上一天课， 学校日体育活动机会，学校膳食计划，学术指导和其他支持 服务，这可能会影响儿童健康行为，社会情感发展，心理健康，风险行为， 和教育程度。通过家庭外社会工作者获得学校服务的机会减少也可能增加儿童保育 需求，这可能会改变家庭劳动参与决策和/或影响家庭资源分配给 食物这项拟议中的R21研究召集了一个由公共卫生、经济学和 合作推广，以产生一些第一个证据，FDSW对儿童和家庭的结果的影响 在两个目标上使用定量和定性方法。对于目标1，我们将把现有的俄勒冈州和 国家数据集与我们专有的FDSW国家纵向数据集比较， 四日制和五日制学校模式，包括儿童健康行为（例如，饮食、体力活动）、危险行为 (e.g.,犯罪、药物使用）、社会情绪因素、成绩、出勤率、毕业/辍学决定， 体育教育、家庭劳动决策和食品安全。对于目标#2，我们将利用 正在与俄勒冈州学校建立伙伴关系，与四日制和五日制学校的家庭进行重点小组讨论 将家庭的FDSW经验置于背景中，并探索目标1发现的机制。 俄勒冈州拥有第四高密度的FDSW区，并代表了一个强大的设置进行这一点 research.我们的中心假设是，儿童和家庭的健康和福祉将受到负面影响， 与五日制学校相比，FDSW的使用减少了对学术指导和其他学校的接触- 基于支持服务。我们的长期目标是了解学校环境如何影响儿童， 家庭健康和福祉。这项R21提案的目的是提供有关影响的新证据。 通过外展社工减少学校接触。到目前为止，有两个指标主要用于衡量 采用FDSW的影响：成本效益和学术成就。我们开展工作的理由 本项目将扩展到这些指标之外，以提供有关以下方面潜在影响的关键证据： FDSW通过对儿童和家庭健康和福祉，以解决这一重大的证据差距。我们预计 我们对FDSW对儿童和家庭影响的估计将改变利益相关者如何定义其优点 和FDSW的缺点。我们的调查结果的主要积极影响是通过及时提供证据， 开展广泛的宣传活动，为可能对儿童的成果产生重大影响的学校政策行动提供信息。

Project Summary Schools are critical settings to promote child health, learning, and wellbeing. However, unprecedented declines in state education funding have forced many US school districts to consider cost-cutting measures to alleviate budgetary pressures. Use of the four-day school week (FDSW) as a potential cost-saving strategy has increased 630% in the US over the last two decades despite a significant lack of data on how this strategy impacts child and family health and wellbeing. Losing one day of school per week diminishes exposure to school-day physical activity opportunities, school meal programs, academic instruction, and other support services, which may affect child health behaviors, socioemotional development, mental health, risk behaviors, and educational attainment. Reduced access to school services via FDSWs also may increase childcare needs, which may alter family labor participation decisions and/or impact household resources allocated to food. This proposed R21 study convenes an interdisciplinary team of experts in public health, economics, and Cooperative Extension to generate some of the first evidence of FDSW impacts on child and family outcomes using quantitative and qualitative approaches across two aims. For Aim #1, we will link existing Oregon and national datasets to our proprietary national longitudinal dataset of FDSW use to compare outcomes between four- and five-day school models, including child health behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity), risk behaviors (e.g., crime, substance use), socioemotional factors, achievement, attendance, graduation/dropout decisions, and physical education exposure and family labor decisions and food security. For Aim #2, we will leverage ongoing partnerships with Oregon schools to conduct focus groups with families in four- and five-day schools to contextualize the FDSW experience of families and to probe the mechanisms underlying Aim #1 findings. Oregon has the fourth highest density of FDSW districts and represents a robust setting to conduct this research. Our central hypothesis is that child and family health and wellbeing will be negatively impacted by FDSW use compared to five-day schools due to reduced exposure to academic instruction and other school- based support services. Our long-term goal is to understand how the school environment impacts child and family health and wellbeing. The objective for this R21 proposal is to provide novel evidence about the impacts of reduced school exposure via FDSWs. To date, there have been two metrics predominantly used to weigh the impacts of adopting a FDSW: cost-effectiveness and academic achievement. Our rationale for undertaking this project is to extend beyond these metrics to provide crucial evidence regarding the potential impacts of FDSW adoption on child and family health and wellbeing to address this significant evidence gap. We expect our estimates of the impacts of FDSW on children and families will change how stakeholders define the merits and shortcomings of FDSW. The primary positive impact of our findings is the timely provision of evidence via broad dissemination activities to inform school policy actions that may significantly impact child outcomes.